<p>My son just applied early decision to St. Olaf. He's the oldest child, so all of this is new for us. Is it really true that different mailings are sent whether they are accepted (fat envelope) or denied (skinny envelope)? Is the "fat envelope" expectation true? I'm curious about what is myth and what is reality.</p>
<p>No,sometimes the accept answers come in skinny envelopes too! Answers also come online many times .</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply! We will just hang in there until Dec. 15.</p>
<p>A rejection will never come in a fat envelope, but an acceptance <em>might</em> come in a skiiny or fat envelope. And as cathymee says, a lot of it is on-line these days.</p>
<p>Fat always means excepted; skinny could go either way. Cathymee is right though that most schools now send out results by email or put them on their website (which you would need to log-in to see).</p>
<p>X-posted with Coureur...</p>
<p>There IS some reality behind the myth, though. In most cases, if a kid is being accepted, there's a lot the school wants to say to him or her, and some of it comes in the same mailing. If a kid is being rejected, "We're sorry" fits on a single sheet of paper.</p>
<p>Between two kids and fifteen applications, however, there was only one school that didn't notify by e-mail or posting on a password-protected web page long before any envelope at all arrived. That school subsequently changed its practice. Unless your son forgets his password, or avoids it deliberately, what's in the envelope when it arrives will not be news.</p>
<p>I can't remember which college it was, but there was one that sent acceptances in a thin envelope. On the outside of the envelope it said "This IS our thick envelope." Probably saved a few parents steeling themselves for the moment junior came home and found out the bad news.</p>
<p>JHS--did the schools specifically tell you when the decisions would be posted on the web account, or did you just check around the time you thought they would be up and find them there?</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon sends their acceptance in a big packet that says on the outside -- FAT ENVELOPE. But my son also got some acceptances in skinny envelopes, but did not get any rejections in a fat envelope.</p>
<p>St. Olaf didn't give my son a password to a protected web page. Is this something the college gives to students after they have received their application?</p>
<p>I don't know how generally true this is, but one notification of a very large merit scholarship came in a skinny envelope, with no prior hint by e-mail. I handed the envelope to my son, saying, "I'm sorry, I really thought you would be accepted there." The official acceptance came three weeks later, in a fat envelope.</p>
<p>My memory could be faulty, but I think my son got his fat envelope early action acceptance from U. Chicago before the notification ever showed up by e-mail. I don't think it was supposed to happen that way, though.</p>
<p>jonri said, "On the outside of the envelope it said "This IS our thick envelope." Probably saved a few parents steeling themselves for the moment junior came home and found out the bad news."</p>
<p>That's funny. I get to look forward to holding myself back from opening an envelope before DS gets home from school. :)</p>
<p>Did Olaf's ever ask your son to set up a PIN number with them at any time in the application process? The larger schools my D has applied to did that. You couldn't apply online until that was done.
Other schools sent her a PIN number with instructions once they received her application.
One school has not done anything of the sort and does not seem to have a place online to check for admissions decisions.<br>
So Olaf's could fall into one of the two last camps, I guess.<br>
Did your son apply online?</p>
<p>The admissions offer from USC came in a fat envelope with wording on the outside that left no doubt what was inside. However, the admissions letter from the film school came in a very skinny envelope that was put aside because I thought it was just another "we'll be in touch," thingy.</p>
<p>D also got a couple of thin-envelope acceptances that said "Congratulations" on the outside.</p>
<p>Sometimes the online notification isn't through a passworded site--my S's acceptance came as an email.</p>
<p>My D got an acceptance froma state school, skinny envelope, form letter, no hoopla at all, it really looked like a rejection....</p>
<p>I definitely recall one poster on CC reporting that a college rejected her but sent some "stuff" in the envelope so she was fooled into thiniking it was an acceptance. They had some kind of an evaluation feedback form, not that she felt like doing it for them. She felt really raw about it, but said it wasn't her favorite school and this made it all the less so.</p>
<p>Some really strange things can happen, too. My S hadn't heard anything from the film school he wanted a lot (in California). THen he got an email in April, inviting him to an excitring student gathering for film applicants in NYC, with the department director coming out to meet "them." Who was "them"? Heart in hand, S emailed the university admissions office to ask if that social invitation meant he had been accepted to the college, or if that had been sent to every film applicant from this region for marketing the school. They wrote back quickly and apologized that he found out about his admissions in this backdoor way. Of course, when the news is good, you don't get mad at the clerical error. Evidently the snail mail and physical distance slowed things down by many days. He had no way to check in with them via email until he was actually accepted, although other schools did set up that nicety sooner.</p>
<p>My D's school was so sweet. Their acceptance letter was skinny but they put it in a big 8 x 11 inch envelope so it looked shiny. She wasn't afraid to open it. All it said, of course, is that she was in and that more packets would follow soon.</p>
<p>I felt like the mailbox was radioactive in those last days of waiting. Everyone here wrote, "This too shall pass..." which it did.</p>
<p>Some schools will issue the PIN, etc via an email that explains how students can check on the status of the applicaiton....student can go online and see when scores, recs, etc are received/what is outstanding, etc. Often this happens after apps are received...</p>
<p>A waitlist envelope might be just a little bit thick because there could be form to fill out if you want to stay on waitlist.</p>